2024 Book of the Year Awards: Early Childhood Shortlisted

Best Suited 3+ Years
So … can a fish climb a tree?
Can a horse drive a car?
Can a baby bake a cake?

And if they can’t, what wonderful things can they do?

From bestselling creators Jane Godwin and Terry Denton comes a quirky and inspiring book about celebrating who YOU are and the power and peace to be found in not trying to be anyone else.

Best Suited 11+ Years
Running late

Drop it off without me

I type drop what off? I don’t know what Mish is talking about.

While I’m typing, another message appears. Don’t tell Bella.

But I am Bella.

Best friends Bella and Connie live on the outskirts of the city in an area that was once full of open fields and paddocks but is changing as the suburbs creep closer. And now there is Mish, Connie’s cousin, who has to be included even though she is unfriendly and unpredictable. The pandemic lockdowns have lifted and the three teens are eager to explore their newfound independence. But with the world opening up, there has been a rise in surveillance, from apps that track their movements to voice recorders and hidden cameras. It feels like everyone is watching them. But when does ‘watching’ become ‘watching over’?

Best Suited 3+ Years
Angus and Mouse are best friends. But when Angus brings home a beautiful new book from the library, what happens as they try to share? When mistakes are made, can they be fixed? An enchanting story about friendship, forgiveness and the magic of reading.

Best Suited 3+ Years 
From the award-winning team that created classics such as Don’t Forget, All Through the Year, Tilly and Starting School, comes an exquisite, universal and captivating picture book that carries us through a child’s life journey on the magical metaphor of song.

When you are born, you make up a song
It doesn’t rhyme, and it isn’t long
A song of everything you hold dear
It’s your own tune, it’s loud and clear

And your whole world is in it…

A musical journey from the time a child’s life song first begins, through all its modulations, adding new verses and extra voices through the years, until it becomes their own unique composition – and one that is ultimately a part of the beautiful, grand and glistening score of the w

Best Suited 6-9 Years
Isabelle and her best friends Harry B and Izzy are in Year Two and there are lots of adventures to be had: getting to know their new teacher, going to a school disco and sleepover, bridge-building in the forest, and even a baby to show the whole class! Isabelle loves being in Year Two, until . . . Harry has some news that shocks them all. How will Isabelle manage the rest of the year without Harry B by her side?

Best Suited 6-9 Years
Six-year-old Isabelle doesn’t have any brothers or sisters. But she does have her dad, her cat Steve, her friend Harry B, and her baby cousin, Bibi, who she’s very good at looking after. And then along comes Isobel, a new girl at school. They have the same name, but will they be friends? Four gentle stories in one volume, all about Isabelle and her world, its trials and triumphs, its small moments and big dramas: friends, family, school life and growing up.

Best Suited 3+ Years

Let’s build a boat
with wood and nails.
‘What colour?’
‘Blue! With bright red sails.’

In this joyous celebration of creativity and imagination, Jane Godwin brings to life the story of five children building a boat together.

• Written in delightful rhyme by one of Australia’s most celebrated authors, with art by debut illustrator Meg Rennie – winner of the Little Hare Illustration Prize.
• The perfect book to read aloud to children learning the joy of imaginative play
• Debut illustrator Meg Rennie’s bold colours and expressive characters perfectly compliment Jane Godwin’s text
• Winner of the Little Hare Illustration Prize

Best Suited 3-10 Years
Archie has found the best hiding place. But after a while, it feels too quiet. Is the game still on? Has Archie been forgotten? From bestselling author Jane Godwin and emerging illustrator Sylvia Morris comes a rich and atmospheric story that captures the highs and lows of hide-and-seek, and the joy of being found.

Best Suited 13 – 17 years
A gripping and suspenseful rite-of-passage novel about five teenagers and one night that will change them all, from award-winning author Jane Godwin. ‘It’s just a walk in the dark. What is there to worry about?’ That’s what the head teacher, Johan, says. And so the Year Nines from Otway Community School set out on an overnight hike, with no adults. But doesn’t Johan know that a storm is coming? When five teenagers head in to the forest that late afternoon, none of them is aware what the night will bring. Each will have to draw on their particular strengths to survive. Each will have to face the unknown, battling the elements, events beyond their control, and their own demons. It’s a night that will change everything. Set in the lush rainforest of Victoria’s Otway Ranges, A Walk in the Dark is about friendship, trust, identity and family, consent and boundaries, wrapped in a compulsively readable, suspense-filled adventure. Five head into the forest, but will all five make it out?

Best Suited 3+ Years
Polly’s sixth birthday would be here any day (Well actually thirty-five sleeps away) She was counting down till the thirteenth of May There d be a party! Yippee! Hooray! Polly was making a plan For dreamers and party planners everywhere comes a relatable picture book about throwing the perfect birthday party … even when things don’t exactly go to plan.

Best Suited 3-7 Years

Let’s find some animals off we go! Would you like to meet them and say hello? Join dynamic duo Jane Godwin and Jane Reiseger on a fun and bright adventure to learn all the ways that animals say hello. Look out for the sneaky little mouse along the way!

Best Suited 3+ years
So many families,
some big and some small.
Each one is different,
let’s look at them all!   In this warm and humorous exploration of families, much-loved Australian children’s author Jane Godwin has teamed with internationally acclaimed Argentinian creator Yael Frankel. Together, they weave a colourful celebration of all the differences that make every family unique.

You’ll be sure to recognise a family just like yours!

Best Suited 3+ years
Pippi loves her special Little One: she’s soft like mist and always warm, and she’s there for Pippi through night and day. Together, they sit at the window and wonder at the world. But one day, Little One goes missing. Pippi feels lost too, but perhaps she can learn to wonder at the world without Little One by her side … From a wonderful new pairing of Jane Godwin and Gabriel Evans comes a timeless story that reminds us nothing is ever truly lost.

Best Suited for ages 2-7 Years
Mumma, Dadda,
No,
Mine,
More!
Toddlers have many ways of making themselves understood!
In this clever and delightful story, a young child’s day is explored through five words that all toddlers use to communicate.

Best Suited 4-7 Years
Arno and his Horse is a beautifully written rhyming text, matched with exquisite illustrations, that explores love, memory, loss and the power objects can hold.

Best Suited for ages 3-6 Years
Don’t forget to make your bed,
and wear socks that fit your feet…
Don’t forget to care, to play,
To run, to laugh…

Sometimes, we need to remember all the things we can do to be part of the world. Small things, like offering a smile. And bigger things, like hoping, dreaming, imagining…

Best Suited 3-7 Years

Splash into summer with this glorious love letter to the seasons. Combining Jane Godwin’s sparkling text and Alison Lester’s whimsical watercolours, Sing Me the Summer celebrates those precious everyday moments that stay with us forever.

Best Suited for 13+Years
A beautiful and timely coming-of-age story about finding out who you are in the face of crisis and change.

Best suited for ages 3+ years
A big sister marvels at how she will always be older than her baby brother, no matter how much he grows.

Best Suited for ages 12+ years
Three teenage girls from very different backgrounds find themselves sharing a hospital ward. When they witness a crime in the park below their window, they bond over trying to solve the crime and each one undergoes a profound change.

Best Suited 13+ years
Kip, Annie, Grace, David, Ted. Five different people, one terrible night. There’s a storm at Point Nepean, and the ocean has swept into the bay.

Best Suited for ages 3+ years
Ivanhoe Swift left home when he was six. He had heard many songs about the world, and it was time to see it for himself.

Best Suited for ages 5-10 years
My brother was making a game with a ball, Bouncing and throwing up high on a wall, When I asked to join in, he straightened up tall And I knew what he’d say, he said, ‘You’re too small.’

Best Suited for ages 6-8 years
When Go Go is allowed to buy the most beautiful shoes ever, she decides she will wear them EVERYWHERE!
Even to the creek, where she and her brothers go adventuring.

Best Suited for ages 3-6 years
A busy week, a slower day Brings time to dream and time to play.

Best Suited for 3-6 years
Hattie is the perfect helper. Or so she thinks! An endearing picture book that any child – and parent – will relate to.

Best Suited for 4-8 years
Today is baby’s birthday. Here come baby’s friends. Hello! Shy baby. Friendly baby. Sunny baby. Lazy baby. Who else will we meet?

Best Suited for ages 3-7 years
Bear is great with his hands, but not so smart when it comes to relationships. If he fixes up his den, will everything else follow?

Best Suited for ages 6-9 Years
Best selling children’s book creators Jane Godwin and Anna Walker bring the magic of Christmas into our hearts and homes. Fun, presents, sparkly lights and Christmas Wishes. From this much-loved creative partnership comes a sparkling and beautiful story, full of the wonder of Christmas, the magic of wishing, and the timeless dreams of a child.

Best Suited for ages 3 – 10 years old
Tilly’s found the perfect hiding place to keep her special treasures. No one knows about it, not even her big brothers and sister, who know everything. But one day, something happens that Tilly could never have imagined… Jane Godwin and Anna Walker have created a wistful, enchanting and timeless story about an old house, a young girl, and how the small things we hold dear stay with us always.

Best Suited 3-7 Years old
A personal almanac of a little girl and her family that opens a window onto each month of her year. Superb, wistful illustrations and beautiful rhyming text that will take us all back to our childhoods.
Open this book and travel your way all through the year and treasure each day.
From this author/illustrator team comes a timeless account of a year in the life of an Australian family. Told through the eyes of a child and featuring each month of the year, here is a book to give, to share and to treasure.

Best Suited 3-6 Years
Tim, Hannah, Sunita, Joe and Polly are all off to school for the first time. Would you like to meet them and see how they go? There are new friends to make, fun ways to learn, and lots of different things to discover.

From Jane Godwin and Anna Walker comes this beautiful book focussing on the experiences and feelings of five very different children as they begin at school for the first time.

Jane’s simple words and ideas combine with Anna’s gentle and detailed illustrations to help children feel comfortable about taking this big step.

Best Suited 3-6 Years
Red house Blue house
Green house
Tree house!
See the tiny mouse in her little brown house?

From a dynamic author-illustrator team comes this fresh, fun and rhythmic exploration of colour.

Bold and bright, it’s the perfect book for reading aloud and sharing with young children as they learn to identify the colours of their world.

Best Suited 3-6 Years
‘The bus went over and the bus went around. The bus went up and the bus went down.’

Winter and summer Little Cat goes to school on the big red bus with her big sister. But one day, Little Cat’s big sister is sick and Little Cat must go to school on her own. Unfortunately, on the way back home, Little Cat falls asleep on the bus and no one notices. When she wakes up the bus is empty and it’s dark outside. As soon as the bus driver realises what has happened, he sits her in the very special spot up the front of the bus and takes Little Cat home.

Best Suited 7-12 Years
Happy is a big, friendly dog. Honey is a little, playful kitten. Happy wants to sleep, but Honey wants to play. Watch out, Happy-Honey won’t take “no” for an answer!

Best Suited ‎4 – 8 years
Today is baby’s birthday. Happy baby!

Here come baby’s friends. Hello!
Shy baby.
Friendly baby.
Sunny baby.
Strong baby.

Who else will we meet?

Best Suited 3-7 Years
Can you make a circle with your arms?
Or a triangle with your fingers?
If we work together, we can make a rectangle, or even a pyramid.
We can make lots and lots of shapes – just watch this! A bold and playful celebration of movement, energy, pattern, colour and shape!

Nest Suited 3-5 Years
All the words you need to know
Will help you as you learn and grow.
From ant and ball and yak and zoo,
Here’s a word book
JUST FOR YOU!